By Vu Quoc Ngu | June 17, 2015
Family of former prisoner of conscience A Lu (Oi Hngem) in Vietnam’s Central Highlands province of Gia Lai informed that he was arrested and severely tortured by police in Phu Thien district on June 14, said Haiphong-based activist Nguyen Xuan Nghia, the writer awarded with Norwegian Authors Union Freedom of Expression Prize in March.
The reason for arrest is that Mr. A Lu, a member of an ethnic minority in Plei Rbai village, Iapia commune, recently travelled to Haiphong to meet Mr. Nghia and to Hanoi to see former political prisoners Nguyen Van Dai and Pham Van Troi, with whom he shared the same prison cell in the northern province of Ha Nam during 2007-2009 period, said the family.
Mr. Nghia, who completed his six-year imprisonment for “attempt to overthrow the communist government” under Article 88 of Vietnam’s Criminal Code in September last year, invited Mr. A Lu, 63, and his wife to visit his family. After that, A Lu went to meet Mr. Dai and Mr. Troi on advice of Nghia to seek financial aids for constructing his house.
Mr. Nghia said in his facebook account that he and A Lu spent long time together in the Ha Nam province-based Ba Sao Prison. A Lu was among thousands of ethnic minorities in the Central Highlands arrested since 2001 for protesting illegal seizure of their land by local authorities which are dominated by Kinh ethnic majority.
A Lu was charged under the Article 88 and Article 87- Undermining the unity policy and sentenced to seven years. Being released in 2011, he was put under three-year of house arrest.
His son was imprisoned for total 14 years, currently held in a prison in the northern province of Thai Nguyen.
Many imprisoned people from ethnic minorities in the Central Highlands told Mr. Nghia, that they had been brutally tortured by Vietnamese policemen, mostly from Kinh majority.
Ethnic minorities in Vietnam have been discriminated by the communist government, Mr. Nghia affirmed, adding that due to lack of public attention, many harassments and persecutions against them have not been recorded.
Mr. Nghia called on activists, foreign diplomats and international human rights bodies pay attention to A Lu and other prisoners of conscience from ethnic minorities in the Central Highlands and voice for their freedom.
Vietnam is a one-party ruled by communists for decades. The communists, vowing to keep the country under one-party regime, have harassed, intimidated and imprisoned many political dissidents and human rights activists.
According to international human rights, Vietnam holds between 150 and 200 prisoners of consciences. Hanoi always denies, saying it keeps only law violators./.
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June 17, 2015
Former Vietnamese Prisoner of Conscience in Central Highlands Arrested, Tortured
by Nhan Quyen • [Human Rights]
Ethnic minorities in Vietnam have been discriminated by the communist government, Mr. Nghia affirmed, adding that due to lack of public attention, many harassments and persecutions against them have not been recorded.
By Vu Quoc Ngu | June 17, 2015
Family of former prisoner of conscience A Lu (Oi Hngem) in Vietnam’s Central Highlands province of Gia Lai informed that he was arrested and severely tortured by police in Phu Thien district on June 14, said Haiphong-based activist Nguyen Xuan Nghia, the writer awarded with Norwegian Authors Union Freedom of Expression Prize in March.
The reason for arrest is that Mr. A Lu, a member of an ethnic minority in Plei Rbai village, Iapia commune, recently travelled to Haiphong to meet Mr. Nghia and to Hanoi to see former political prisoners Nguyen Van Dai and Pham Van Troi, with whom he shared the same prison cell in the northern province of Ha Nam during 2007-2009 period, said the family.
Mr. Nghia, who completed his six-year imprisonment for “attempt to overthrow the communist government” under Article 88 of Vietnam’s Criminal Code in September last year, invited Mr. A Lu, 63, and his wife to visit his family. After that, A Lu went to meet Mr. Dai and Mr. Troi on advice of Nghia to seek financial aids for constructing his house.
Mr. Nghia said in his facebook account that he and A Lu spent long time together in the Ha Nam province-based Ba Sao Prison. A Lu was among thousands of ethnic minorities in the Central Highlands arrested since 2001 for protesting illegal seizure of their land by local authorities which are dominated by Kinh ethnic majority.
A Lu was charged under the Article 88 and Article 87- Undermining the unity policy and sentenced to seven years. Being released in 2011, he was put under three-year of house arrest.
His son was imprisoned for total 14 years, currently held in a prison in the northern province of Thai Nguyen.
Many imprisoned people from ethnic minorities in the Central Highlands told Mr. Nghia, that they had been brutally tortured by Vietnamese policemen, mostly from Kinh majority.
Ethnic minorities in Vietnam have been discriminated by the communist government, Mr. Nghia affirmed, adding that due to lack of public attention, many harassments and persecutions against them have not been recorded.
Mr. Nghia called on activists, foreign diplomats and international human rights bodies pay attention to A Lu and other prisoners of conscience from ethnic minorities in the Central Highlands and voice for their freedom.
Vietnam is a one-party ruled by communists for decades. The communists, vowing to keep the country under one-party regime, have harassed, intimidated and imprisoned many political dissidents and human rights activists.
According to international human rights, Vietnam holds between 150 and 200 prisoners of consciences. Hanoi always denies, saying it keeps only law violators./.